Just finished my build. The goal of this was to make the cheapest functional build possible with a BMS to take me to work and back. It is a 10km trip with a decent incline. I really don’t think that a build can be done much cheaper than this with Li-Ion and BMS. I also wanted to try building a tubular skateboard frame and then enclose the electronics inside.
Anyways here is the build cost in case anyone is interested:
The deck is made of some 20 year old plywood that I found lying around and the frame is made of some 1" round and 3/4" tubular steel that I had lying around as well.
I’ve only ridden it 6km to work so far this morning, so not much specifics to report on yet. Didn’t even have time to change the settings on the ESC before riding as I just finished it last night.
Thanks man! Because it is tubular steel it’s not light, but it’s not unbearably heavy. I also made the handle as kick-tail, but mainly so I can drag it around like a suitcase.
Now that I’ve proven the concept, if I can find a welder for aluminum I would love to make one out of tubular aluminum.
It is possible, but because you can’t simply weld carbon fiber together, joining the pieces of tubing would probably present more problems that it is worth.
A better option would probably be aluminum tubing with a carbon fiber top. That would be pretty sick IMHO.
Not sure how much it weights exactly, but it’s not light haha. The steel frame maybe adds 4 pounds if I had to guess. I don’t own a scale, but will try to weight it next time I’m by my parents place.
Having the handle makes all the difference. I would not even consider a build without one now.
The range on the 6s2p is good so far. I did 10km and still had over 50% on the indicator. This was on a route with decently inclined hills. With my gearing I have no problem tackling the hills, but if I had to do it again, would probably do a 6s3p. While going flat out on a flat part for a while and then up a long hill, I hit the LV cutoff due to the voltage sag.
I did the same hill at lesser speed yesterday, so basically with the 6s2p I have to be carefully about gunning it up hills as I will hit the cutoff if the hill is too long. If I do about 70% throttle, it seems fine. Still need to try messing around with some ESC setting though.
Thanks. Just search 83mm longboard wheels on ebay. I just got the cheapest ones I could find. It’s definitely hard to stay on budget with these things. My next build will probably be over 1k easily haha
I was able to do some testing today and went for a long ride. When I came back the battery had 29%, which basically means empty because of the voltage sag. At that battery level, I hit the low voltage cut-off with too much throttle.
I had to ease up on the throttle and wasn’t able to ride a top speed the 2nd half of the ride for fear of running out of battery and having to push the board back.
Anyways, I rode 21KM! So while these batteries don’t have the best AMP output, they do have great capacity. Remember this is just a 6s2p pack.
The path was mostly smooth with a few hills here and there. Anyways, my next build will likely be a 10s3p. I would estimate at least 30-40km with a pack that size.
wanted to do a low budget build too … but i think i’m already over my $$$ target.